Eugenio Suarez's heads-up play to nail Yasiel Puig saves early run for Tigers

Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos shows the ball to third base umpire Paul Schrieber after tagging third base before Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig (66) could tag up on a Hanley Ramirez fielders choice in the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Puig was out on the play.
PAUL SANCYA — The Associated Press

detroit >> Any thoughts the Los Angeles Dodgers have of jumping out to a big first-inning lead again Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers immediately nipped in the bud.

Yasiel Puig tripled to the right-center gap just two batters in, but four pitches later, he was picked off third by an alert, instinctive play from young Tigers shortstop Eugenio Suarez.

“He’s a good player, he plays hard every day. He runs hard, he throws hard he plays hard. For that reason, he think I just throw to first, so I get him in that case,” Suarez said. “My instinct is to get him. When Ramirez hit the ball ... I saw him, so I think I got him, so I throw it.

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“Excited because I got him, we saved one run.”

Tigers starter Max Scherzer got Hanley Ramirez to hit a change-up sharply on the ground, right to Suarez, who saw the aggressive Puig edging off the bag at third, waiting for Suarez to throw the ball across the diamond.

Never happened. Instead, Suarez threw to Nick Castellanos at third, who slapped the tag on Puig. A fly ball later, and the potential rally was dead.

“That was a great play by him. I was able to get Hanley to hit a ground ball to him, sharply, and he just made an instinct play,” Scherzer said. “Saw Puig was off the base, and made a quick little snap throw. That just helped keep the game where it was, not let them scratch an early run.”

Considering the Tigers came right back and scored twice in the bottom of the first, it was a huge momentum swing.

“That possibly changed the game right away. That’s a very heads-up play right there,” said Austin Jackson, who tripled to nearly the same spot as Puig in the bottom of the inning. “He didn’t show any hesitation. He caught it, and didn’t even take a look, and just made a good decision right there, made a good play.”

Limited opportunities has helped

Before Wednesday’s save, Joe Nathan hadn’t had a save opportunity since June 28, and had pitched just twice.

It might seem like going 10 days without a save opportunity might have hindered his progress in refining the tweak in his arm angle that’s been so effective in helping him turn things around over the last month.

On the contrary. Pitching in those lower-stress situations gave him a good chance to continue to progress.

“They’ve done a nice job of still — as few opportunities as there’s been, they’ve done a pretty good job of getting me out there consistently, getting me some work. I know it’s not the same situation, but anytime you take the hill, we can use that as quality time,” Nathan said. “Whether it be a losing affair, or a game that’s kind of out of hand — those were huge games for me to work on this little angle that I’ve been working on.

“For them to continue to keep our schedule as consistent as we can, through the drought of the save opportunities, kinda helps when you do get these opportunities to go out there with sharp stuff.”

Based on something pitching coach Jeff Jones spotted on film, Nathan made a change in his arm angle mid-June, and it’s paid off handsomely

“I think I created some bad habits over a long period of time. ... For me, it’s made all the difference. I feel like I’m not trying to force things, I’m not trying as hard as I was early in the season, and it’s coming out better,” he said.

“I thank him (Jones) for spotting something so minor, and yet so huge.”